Video from the Red Hook Criterium

This looks like a frigthening and unwise way to spend one’s evening in Red Hook.  Nevertheless, it looks cool and no deaths have been reported.  Enjoy.

Update on Red Hook Winery

(Photo: Alyson Aliano for New York Magazine )

While we’re on Grub Street, check out the latest about new-to-the-nabe winery expected to hit shelves this summer.

Defonte’s Crosses the Rubicon (or East River)

Some well-earned attention for Red Hook’s own hero heaven:

The good news is that a few old-timers are determined to muddle through and hang on and, in a couple of rare instances, actually prosper. Take, for example, Defonte’s, the 87-year-old Red Hook hero shop that recently branched out to Manhattan.

What’s a Destination Dot?

This is:

This dot was responding to the prompt, “show your vision for the future of Red Hook.”  Like all Destination Dots, it asked someone from Red Hook to tell their story.  The someone who shared her vision and artwork above is La’Sean Brooks, one of the great interns at DTE.   This is what she had to say about her dot:

My dot was inspired by the things I’m interested in that I’m sure others would be interested in, also.  Like music- who doesn’t enjoy a good concert? Especially on a warm summer evening.  Peace is something that should go on all around the world, and flowers always seem to cheer people up when they’re feeling down, so that inspired my flower and peace symbol. It’s sometimes the little things you do that impact a lot- that’s where my little “If you do only one thing…” clip came in. Of course I couldn’t forget the neighborhood that my vision was being created for:  Red Hook, Brooklyn.

In the weeks leading up to this year’s Red Hook Festival (theme:  “Destination Red Hook:  We Got What You Need”- it’s all coming together, no?) Destination Dots will start to pop up throughout the neighborhood.  Anywhere you see a dot, you’ll know you can go inside to get your own blank Destination Dot.  It’ll have its own prompt and its own rules- if you fill it out and hand it back in you  put yourself in the running for one of many great prizes offered by our partners in the neighborhood.   More than that, though, you tell your story, for all to see and share, just like La’Sean has done so nicely here.

2 Weeks to See Joel Sokolov & Hugh Williams @ Kentler Int’l Drawing Space

Kentler Inernational Drawing Space’s current exhibition run until March 22- leaving you two weekends to see the work of these two solo artists.  Like all (most? all?) exhibits at Kentler, the show is FREE.  For details visit the Kentler website.

Sad News

Bob Guskind, the man behind the influential Gowanus Lounge, passed away this week.  Flatbush Gardener has a growing list of the staggering outpouring of appreciation for the man and regret for this loss.  We were among many who relied heavily on GL for updates on development issues in Brooklyn, a fact made only more impressive when you consider that it was built up to the powerful network it is today largely through the efforts of one man.  For the blogosphere, Brooklyn, and clearly the people he met and knew, he will be missed.

Toll Bros Update

The Brooklyn Paper has a midday update about Councilman Bill DeBlassio’s stance on the development project looking more and more like it’s on its way to the Gowanus Canal. Says the pape:

DeBlasio’s support is crucial as the plan enters its final public review before the City Council, which was set to hold a hearing today. Councilmembers tend to defer to the local lawmaker on land-use issues.

Destination: Red Hook

I couldn’t resist. 

It appears that  pretty soon the Waterfront Museum won’t be the only boat making a home in the water behind Fairway (don’t worry, Sharps, your boat still has about 40 years on the new kid).  From GreenBeat Brooklyn:

From July 30 to Aug. 2, the Clearwater (a 108-foot wooden replica of an 18th- and 19th-century traditional cargo vessel) will be docked near the Fairway Cafe in Red Hook, said Captain Heyman. Normally, the ship’s stay at any given dock would be two to five days, but in this case, “there is the possibility that it could be extended,” she said.

This particular dock is owned by Tom Fox, the president of New York Water Taxi. Heyman is grateful to him, as well as property owner Greg O’Connell, for their generous support.

She explained that the Brooklyn location for the Clearwater is ideal for many reasons. It has “the best fishing in the Hudson River estuary,” and is wide open enough for the wake from other boats “not to get too vicious.”

Stumptown

Either a horrifying place or a super-hot Coffee Roasting company on its way to Red Hook. Stumptown has been slowly spreading throughout Brooklyn, and you might’ve heard about the outpost they’re opening in Red Hook.  Either way, a good article from the place that would know them best gives a nice background to their entrance to the neighborhood:

The roastery in Red Hook will offer free weekend tastings and, more important, will give Stumptown the freshness that comes with having beans roasted on-site daily. Sorenson said he eventually would like to open a cafe in Red Hook in order to create relationships and have a presence in the neighborhood.

If nothing else, they chose a nice picture for their homepage.

A Beer Garden Grows In Brooklyn

Maybe.
OK, based on the language that Eater uses about this rumor, maybe might be too strong a word.  In either case, something to think about:

First, we’re hearing from a couple of sources that the Franks (of the Frankies Spuntinos and Prime Meats) are working in conjunction with Shane Welch of Sixpoint Craft Ales to open a cafe on Court Street and (yes and) a Frankies beer garden in the vicinity of—or perhaps even in—the current space of the Sixpoint Brewery. We always wished that brewery could have a tap room, so this idea is pretty much gold. Neither Mr. Welch nor anyone at Frankies will confirm the rumors

The folks at Sixpoint have always been good neighbors (except for their too-hard-to-identify front door.  Even as I type this I’m not sure if the picture above is the door I’ve gone through or the decoy).  Here’s wishing them the best, whether they have visions of beer gardens dancing in their heads or not.